But Francona also has bad knees and nearly died following complications from a knee surgery prior to his tenure in Boston. He admitted earlier this season that a back problem was triggering numbness and strength problems on the left side of his body.

"I do have some health issues, there's no getting around it," he said. "So I need to go get checked and get some of that fixed."

Francona was battling flu-like symptoms when he met with the media in late October, and he admitted that he's facing back surgery this offseason. With the ongoing health issues and pressure associated with managing the Sox, it's not difficult to imagine that Francona has already thought about a day when he'll step away from the grind of a 162-game season.

"Have I given it some thought? Yeah," said Francona. "If there comes a time where I don't feel like I can do my job appropriately, I won't do it.

"This job takes an unbelievable amount -- sometimes it almost sucks the life out of you. You need to be careful the day after the season's over, especially when you've been sick and you don't feel good. I try real hard every winter to make sure when I come to spring training I can do my job because I owe that to the players and to the organization because it does take it out of you, this place more than any other place I've seen."